What has been influencing the mind of the working class was even visible in the general council of AITUC met at Hyderabad from February 5 to 7, 2022, and one can even see in its document that narrates the general sentiment prevailing among the workforce, which presents a disturbing picture of the country, which tends to becoming even worse.

The nation has been witnessing Central Trade Unions resistance to the Modi’s policies that the workforce is believing to be anti-worker. The coal sector unions had gone on three days strike against commercial mining, defence sector federations organised consistent campaign including strike, banks unions went on strike for three days and then for two days, insurance sector unions also organised strike, so did the electricity federations, scheme workers went for agitations including strike, steel sector also went on agitation on to save Vishakhapatnam steel plant from privatisation having turned into people's movement. On the other side the construction unions, beedi workers, workers/ employees in hospitals, in municipalities and in panchayati-raj institutions, domestic workers, hawkers and vendors, private transport workers, MGNREGA and other agricultural workers have been in agitation for redressal of their grievances in various states despite all difficulty and restrictions due to Covid crises.

Historic Kisan Agitation continued for one year. The promises on which the agitation was ended are yet to be fulfilled and the farmers unions are alleging that the provisions of the withdrawn acts are being implemented indirectly. Farmers are reading themselves for another long battle. Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) had even observed January 31 as the Day of Betrayal. The CTUs are fully with this decision and the SKM also has promised to observe rural strike on March 28, 29, 2022.

AITUC council has planned to make the agitation of the working class stronger than ever before and thorough campaign to expose the Modi government policies against the working class. The council has resolved to make the organization at the centre, state, and union level ever more active by taking several steps including expansion in more areas hitherto absent in trade unionism, bringing in women and youth force, and running educational programmes to protect the rights of workers.

The portrayal of the prevailing sentiment among working class found in the recapitulation report of the AITUC council shows how restive the workers have become. The report has said that the Modi government pushed the working class into extreme uncertainties of life and inflicted pain to the common people. It remembered how millions of workers, men, women, children and elderly people walked for hundreds of miles to reach back their homes having lost jobs, livelihood, no roof on the heads and no food for survival. More than 850 people died, in accidents on Railway tracks, on roads, in buses, in trains, and also due to disease, dehydration and hunger during that period.

AITUC council report mentions even the Central government’s shameless withdrawal of its orders for providing wages for the lockdown period, no eviction from rented accommodations, and no retrenchment from jobs, after failing miserably in implementing the orders and some employers knocking the doors of the Supreme Court against the orders. The demands of trade unions for giving universal coverage of ration without any document, cash transfer of Rs 7,500 to non-tax paying families were met with deaf ears. Not only that the government brought in anti-farmer and anti-worker policies apart from disinvestment of public sector and their privatisation.

The Council’s report said that the COVID-19 relief packages announced allowed even the monopoly business houses/ corporates to continue with profit-making, while the common people, vendors, small business and enterprises were at the receiving end. This was allowed to happen through further concessions by lowering corporate taxes and on procedures, no wealth tax on them, whereas reducing interest benefits on the savings of senior citizens, widows and pensioners who live on that money, increased indirect taxes and various cess on the already suffering poor, vulnerable masses, lower and middle classes. The report also exposed the way the packages were made attractive and bigger by including even the budget allocations already made for farmers, the workers money in construction welfare boards disbursement and that of the mineral workers welfare money, and many more as such. The packages were in reality camouflaging exercises by the government to hoodwink people and to benefit its corporate friends.

AITUC General Council report said that Modi regime has made India more indebted. Black money has also increased which stood at 62 per cent in Modi rule, while it was only 10 per cent during 1948-1980, only 18 per cent in the 1980s, which rose to 40 per cent in 1995. As for indebtedness, in seven years of Modi rule, India’s debt increased by 142 per cent. In 67 years, the debt on India had reached from only Rs 55,87,449 crore to Rs 79,99,526 crore. The interest will account for 52.4 per cent in 2022, the highest in 18 years. Unemployment rate is unprecedentedly high at 8.1 per cent. The price-rise situation is worsening and even the wholesale price reached 14.25 per cent highest in last 30 years.

But the government of the day appears to be least concerned of the plight of workers, farmers and other vulnerable sections of the society, AITUC council said. It believed that Modi government is selling out the national public assets under the National Monetization Plan (NMP) which is an attack on all sectors of the economy in the first place and on interest of the working class ultimately. (IPA Service)